Several hundred years ago, the earliest European explorers and settlers sought communion with Native Americans. Cave art found on a remote Caribbean island suggests the first generations of Europeans to cross the Atlantic and settle in the New World engaged in religious dialogue with the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Archaeologists had previously found painted spiritual iconography on the caves of Mona, the third largest island in the Puerto Rican archipelago and an important stop on the sailing routes from Europe to America. That latest fieldwork by a team of researchers from Europe, Puerto Rico and the United States has revealed a series of signatures and inscriptions by Europeans -- including Christian iconography and religious phrases in Latin and Spanish. Researchers, who detailed their latest discoveries in the journal Antiquity, suggest intercultural artifacts can offer new perspectives on the ways identities of both Europeans and Native Americans changed during the 15th and 16th centuries. http://www.upi.com/Science_News/201...Europeans-and-Native-Americans/5241468934160/
